The present invention relates to a method for the production of contoured bucket seat body of an infant safety seat used in vehicles and the seat body obtained.
The occupant restraint belt systems which vehicles are equipped with by the manufacturers are unsuited for use by small children. Accordingly, a variety of special child restraint systems are available and in widespread use. The most common type of child restraint system is a special seat which rests on a vehicle seat and is suitably fastened in place by the vehicle restraint belt system.
A conventional known child safety seat 100 shown a FIG. 5 includes a contoured bucket seat body 10, a support device 15, and a base 19. The contoured bucket seat body 10 usually consists of a one-piece contoured plastic body 12 covered with padding 20 and fitted with a restraint belt system composed of two waist belts 70, 72 and a crotch belt 74. The contoured plastic body 12 can be formed from a blow molding or an injection molding synthetic resin, including one or more of polypropylene, low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, polycarbonate, and ABS plastic. Then, a sheet of prefabricated cushioning padding 20, for example, polyurethane foam, is glued to the resulted plastic body 12 to absorb any impact so as to ensure comfort and safety features.
This conventional method of making a contoured bucket seat body 10 has involved (1) cutting the cushion material according to an appropriated pattern; (2) adhering the cut material. High labor costs result since, in many instances, the cutting and gluing operations are extensive and mostly has to be performed by hand. Additionally, the plastic body 12 is entirely formed of synthetic resin, the weight of seat body 10 is thus significantly increased.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a low cost contoured bucket seat consisting of a foam body with an embedded frame that is constructed to provide requisite strength for safety.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a unitary seat that is lighter in weight than conventional contoured bucket seat.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a molding process of a low cost contoured bucket seat used by an infant safety seat for vehicles.
The above-mentioned objects can be achieved by a process for molding an infant safety seat body for vehicles which comprises, forming a contoured seat frame, disposing the contoured seat frame in a mold having the shape of the infant safety seat body, pouring foam into said mold and polymerizing the foam to form a cushion substrate, and stripping the foam from the mold.